ThermoPro TempSpike XR after one week.

[whistlepig]

Used it for baking potatoes a couple of times, smoked thighs last night, and baked a pork loin with sauerkraut in cast iron Dutch Oven tonight.

Pros:

Probe temps matches my Thermapen almost exactly.
The probe signal can penetrate a cast iron Dutch Oven with the lid on, inside an oven, and still transmit to my garage without loss of signal.
I wear hearing aids and the alarm signals are plenty loud enough for unaided hearing.
Programming high and low temp alarms are very simple. Setting the high and low temp alarms on my Inkbird was/is a true PITA.
Large and clear readings on the base unit.

Cons:

The ambient temperature on the probe is at the top of the probe. Instructions say to push the probe(s) in until the plastic ambient temp sensor at the top of the probe touches the food. Understandably the ambient part of the probe touching the colder food is going to throw the ambient reading off. Ambient temps are always cooler than actual.

Base unit is not computer monitor friendly. While the loin and sauerkraut were in the Dutch Oven I kept loosing the signal. When I picked up the base unit to Resync the probes the signal would come back. After moving the base unit about 2 feet from my computer monitor I got an uninterrupted signal for 90 minutes.

I can work around the ambient temperature problem. All and all I am very pleased with this set up.

One of the main reasons I went with this thermometer was to stay away from thermometer apps.

 

[Winterrider]

Nice review. Maybe the route to go if I need another. Have 4 units at the present time.

 

[kelbro]

That part about the ambient sensor touching the food sounds odd. I would call their tech support (great folks by the way) and confirm.

 

[chopsaw]

That part about the ambient sensor touching the food sounds odd.

I don't have an XR , but my regular Temp Spike has a line on the probe that has to be in the meat .
Leaves about an inch and a half showing . They do explain that the ambient end being close to the cold mass will affect readings at the start of the cook .

 

[whistlepig]

There is an instructional video on YouTube for the TempSpike XR and it shows the probe inserted all the way to the plastic ambient temperature part of the probe. Manual says the same thing. I have a couple of pork butts to smoke later this week when the wind and rain dies down. I'll try leaving one of the probes pulled out a bit. Pic of the probes.

 

[kelbro]

That's an interesting execution of dual measurements on one probe. I have noticed that the probes that I place close to the meat on the grate are affected by the ambient temp of the meat at the start of the cook. I've also read that some folks let their meat come up to room temp before putting it on the smoker.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Thanks for the review. It seems to confirm that I made a good choice when I bought one of these last week to use for rotisserie cooking.

I plan to test it out on a turkey tomorrow (a test run before Thanksgiving). I plan to put one probe in the breast and the other in one of the thighs.

I wonder a bit about having to insert the probe all the way to the "handle". How do I get it into the thickest part of the meat that way -- especially in the thigh? I assume the very tip of the probe needs to go into the right spot, and if some other portion of the probe gets close to a bone, it won't matter? I guess I'll figure that out tomorrow.

I didn't think about the accuracy of the box temperature when the sensor was close to the cold food. I guess I can watch it and compensate for that, but it seems like it will always read a bit lower than the actual box temperature, a bit more accurate as the temperature of the food gets closer to the temperature of the box.

I look forward to others' experience. I'll post mine after tomorrow's cook.

 

[whistlepig]

I just finished smoking two pork butts with a probe in each butt. 19 pounds of pulled pork to vacuum pack for the freezer waiting on me. Ambient temp starts working about 1.5 hours into the cook after the low temp of the meat starts coming up. I have an Inkbird with an ambient temp probe I used today to double check the Thermorpo's ambient temps and everything worked out. The butts were in a smoker at the far end of the house on the outside of a closed garage door. I was able to take a nap and the temp alarms woke me up.

The probes are relatively short and should work out for your turkey. If you have a Thermapen it would be a good tool to double check your probes accuracy. My Thermapen has the final say over my remote probes.

 

[dr k]

The XR on Amazon says 1,000' open air 90' with lid closed, then there's the range extender option for 1000' from that to the rf receiver. The regular is $77. The one with range extender is $99 so $22 upgrade. The extender is $30 on Amazon if bought later separately. My smoker has a window so my application on that should be good without the extender. It's the heavy gauge steel grill but I have a framed home and glass slider to the outside cookers. These are limited prices that are 30-34% off now that I should get now or wait? Wait to get the extender? How long do batteries and charged spikes last?

 

[chopsaw]

now or wait

I don't have the XR , I have the temp spike 500 ft range . Comes with the extender .
I would say buy the one that comes with the extender .

Mine works great .

 

[whistlepig]

I just ordered the extender today. One of the probes was getting an interment signal. Since I like to sleep while doing long smokes the extender gives me a little more piece of mind. The signal has to go the length of a fairly long brick house, through the wall on an attached garage, through a closed garage door, and through the lid of my smoker.

I smoked the butts @ 275 and they finished up in 8.5 hours. The charge on the base unit still showed 100% after 8.5 hours. The probes showed about 70% charge after 8.5 hours. Pulled pork turned out great. Wife gave it her seal of approval.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I have the ThermoPro TP829 for use with my smoker and the wireless range on it is just fine for my use. It has wired probes that connect to a transmitter, which broadcasts via RF to the base unit. The wired probes eliminate any degradation in wireless performance due to the grill cover. The XR has to send its signal wirelessly through the grill cover to get to the base unit (There is no separate transmitter. I guess that's the role the extender plays).

Perhaps mistakenly, I reckoned that the wireless performance of the XR would be similar to the TP829 and I wouldn't need a range extender, but I failed to consider the need to send its signal through the grill cover.

In any event, my XR did not come with an extender, so we'll see what happens tomorrow on my test run.

 

[dr k]

I just ordered the extender today. One of the probes was getting an interment signal. Since I like to sleep while doing long smokes the extender gives me a little more piece of mind. The signal has to go the length of a fairly long brick house, through the wall on an attached garage, through a closed garage door, and through the lid of my smoker.

I smoked the butts @ 275 and they finished up in 8.5 hours. The charge on the base unit still showed 100% after 8.5 hours. The probes showed about 70% charge after 8.5 hours. Pulled pork turned out great. Wife gave it her seal of approval.

If $99 is a good price for the white and black Tempspike XR with extender do you think getting it now being in stock is better now vs black Friday in a few weeks or cyber Monday.

 

[whistlepig]

I have the ThermoPro TP829 for use with my smoker and the wireless range on it is just fine for my use. It has wired probes that connect to a transmitter, which broadcasts via RF to the base unit. The wired probes eliminate any degradation in wireless performance due to the grill cover. The XR has to send its signal wirelessly through the grill cover to get to the base unit (There is no separate transmitter. I guess that's the role the extender plays).

Perhaps mistakenly, I reckoned that the wireless performance of the XR would be similar to the TP829 and I wouldn't need a range extender, but I failed to consider the need to send its signal through the grill cover.

In any event, my XR did not come with an extender, so we'll see what happens tomorrow on my test run.

I have an Inkbird IRF-4S with wired probes and it still works quite well. I wanted the convenience of the wireless probes but didn't want a remote thermometer that operated from an app. Nothing wrong with apps but I have had bad experiences with them. Cell phones don't work well where we live. And it seems the app designer folks want to brag about the thousands of features there thermometer app has that causes needless navigation through stuff I don't need. I just want a simple thermometer with easy to use settings and wireless probes. The Thermopro XR is that.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

My ThermoPro TP829 doesn't require an app and it works very well. The problem is I can't use it with my rotisserie.

I agree with you on the needless complexity introduced by an app running on your phone. Bluetooth has always been a source of headaches for me, and I want a thermometer that gives me an accurate temperature reading that's easy to set for box and meat temperatures. I have had a Maverick thermometer for quite awhile and it reports temperature accurately and doesn't require an app, but in about 5 years I still have to consult the owners manual to set temperatures. The procedure is absolutely not intuitive. That's why I quit using it and bought the TP829. Very accurate and intuitive to set -- and plenty of wireless range for me.

 

[whistlepig]

I started out with a Maverick. As far as temp setting the Inkbird, for me anyway, is a lot worse.

 

[jcam222]

Good review thanks! I keep holding out for someone to make a longer thinner probe.

 

[dr k]

I have an Inkbird IRF-4S with wired probes and it still works quite well. I wanted the convenience of the wireless probes but didn't want a remote thermometer that operated from an app. Nothing wrong with apps but I have had bad experiences with them. Cell phones don't work well where we live. And it seems the app designer folks want to brag about the thousands of features there thermometer app has that causes needless navigation through stuff I don't need. I just want a simple thermometer with easy to use settings and wireless probes. The Thermopro XR is that.

Just ordered the $99.00 2,000' Thermopro Tempspike XR with extender to get it out of the way before Black Friday. I have had the Soraken BT six probe since 2014 and all probes are accurate but won't sync with phone so no alarms and just go by the scrolling display on the transmitter for shorter day smokes. I also have the Inkbird IRF-4S with no problems operating it but it has a low volume alarm all four probes are accurate and all my therms have boil tested accurately knock on wood. I like these rechargeable systems. I have four Thermopro products: two room temp and humidity hygrometers with rf transmitters for my cigar humidors, the TP-19 instant read therm and the Tempspike XR on the way.

 

[whistlepig]

Just ordered the $99.00 2,000' Thermopro Tempspike XR with extender to get it out of the way before Black Friday. I have had the Soraken BT six probe since 2014 and all probes are accurate but won't sync with phone so no alarms and just go by the scrolling display on the transmitter for shorter day smokes. I also have the Inkbird IRF-4S with no problems operating it but it has a low volume alarm all four probes are accurate and all my therms have boil tested accurately knock on wood. I like these rechargeable systems. I have four Thermopro products: two room temp and humidity hygrometers with rf transmitters for my cigar humidors, the TP-19 instant read therm and the Tempspike XR on the way.

The alarm(s) are another reason I like the Thermopro Tempspike XR. I wear hearing aids and can't hear the Inkbird without them. Wearing hearing aids while sleeping isn't recommended. The Thermopro is plenty loud enough to wake anyone, half deaf or not, from a deep sleep.

 

[Colin1230]

I have the first gen of the TempSpike (TP960) and like it real well for the rotisserie with one exception. The battery in the therm and base are deader than a door nail every time I want to use it. I have to remember to charge it beforehand, which rarely happens. The best thing would be to use it more often, not just on the rotisserie.
After reviewing the XR model on Amazon it looks to be vastly improved. I like having a remote display better than an app on the phone but that is just me.